An apparatus of that kind is disclosed in German patent specification No. 1 536 499. That apparatus is used for processing cut portions of adhesive strip, which carry a fusion-type adhesive. The apparatus has a clamping means for clamping the stack of pages, the clamping means being fixed in position in respect of height. Arranged below the clamping means is the form or mould means with which the adhesive strip portion is laid around and glued to the back or spline of the stack of pages. The form which comprises a form bottom and two form walls disposed thereon is initially used as a striker or abutment plate for putting the stack of pages into a flush and smooth condition, for which purpose one form wall is moved into contact with the other, thereby forming a continuous striker or abutment plate which is formed by the respective surfaces of the form walls. After the stack of pages has been pushed into a flush condition and subsequently clamped by means of the clamping device, the form is moved away from the clamped stack of pages so that a space is defined between the back of the stack of pages and the respective surface of the form walls. After the stack of pages has been pushed into a flush condition and subsequently clamped by means of the clamping device, the form is moved away from the clamped stack of pages so that a space is defined between the back of the stack of pages and the respective surface of the form walls. Then, the cut portion of adhesive strip is fed from the side onto the form walls which are still held together, and deposited on the form walls, under the back of the stack of pages. The adhesive strip portion is then fixed on one form wall while the other form wall moves away from the first wall, so that between the two form walls is formed the trough arrangement or configuration for the adhesive strip portion to be subsequently laid around and pressed against the back of the stack of pages. The adhesive strip portion, in that operation, initially covers over the trough configuration. Finally, the form is moved back towards the back or spine of the stack of pages, in the opposite direction to the movement away from the stack of pages, with the back being pressed into the trough configuration formed between the two form walls. When that is done, the edges of the adhesive strip portion are laid around the back of the stack of pages, and they are pressed against the outermost pages of the stack of pages, by the sides of the form walls, which are towards the trough configuration. Heating of the form causes the adhesive on the adhesive strip portion to melt, thereby forming an adhesive joint between the adhesive strip portion and the stack of pages. Finally, by again moving the form downwardly, the glue-bound back of the stack of pages is withdrawn from the form, thereby terminating the operating process on that stack of pages.
In the above-described known apparatus, the back of the stack of pages is either directly above or in the trough configuration. That position of the back of the stack of pages means that accessibility to the trough configuration is seriously impaired, and that is a disadvantage particularly when the trough configuration has to be cleaned, because of adhesive which has overflowed thereinto. In addition, the stack of pages, with the clamping means, prevents a view onto the adhesive strip portion which is laid down on the form walls in the position in which they are pushed together and which, for that purpose, after having been supplied to the arrangement, is still held in its position by a holding means which continues to impede a view onto the adhesive strip portion. As a result of that, incorrect positioning of the adhesive strip portion, before the glueing operation, can only be ascertained with difficulty and may therefore be overlooked. They may have the result in particular that an adhesive strip portion which has been properly cut to the correct length is glued in place after it has shifted in the lengthwise direction, with the result that one end of the back or spine of the stack of pages does not have any glue binding thereon, and the other end has an unnecessary projecting portion of adhesive strip which must be subsequently cut off.